The 19-year-old sailor, Xavier Mitchell-Sandor, was one of three sailors on the USS George Washington aircraft carrier who took their own lives in April 2022. Their deaths triggered Navy investigations into the suicides and what could have prevented them.

According to the lawsuit, Mitchell-Sandor enlisted in August 2021. But after completing his initial military training in January 2022, the new seaman didn’t get assigned to a ship ready to go out to sea.

Instead, Mitchell-Sandor was sent to the Newport News shipyard, where the George Washington was in drydock undergoing its mid-life refueling and overhaul, a four-year project that ended up taking nearly six years.

“Upon his arrival to his duty assignment, Xavier discovered there were no adequate living quarters and services provided to him by the United States and/or (the shipyard), and that he was required to live aboard the drydocked aircraft carrier,” the lawsuit said.

That is, the ship’s commanding officer ordered that all junior sailors live on the vessel at least initially. Mitchell-Sandor was assigned to work as a security guard on the carrier, typically from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The aircraft carrier was mostly quiet overnight, but during Mitchell-Sandor’s off hours, “there was continuous noise on board” — bells, grinding, paint and rust removal and “frequent announcements.”

“Xavier could not sleep and became severely sleep deprived,” said the lawsuit, filed by the Reardon Law Firm of New London, Connecticut. “In order to rest, Xavier slept in his car frequently because he was unable to do so on the GW.”

But the lawsuit said Mitchell-Sandor was assigned a parking lot nearly a mile from the carrier, and  he “had to travel long distances by foot to obtain food and the essentials of living,” given that Newport News’ downtown is largely bereft of food options.

Moreover, the complaint said, electricity, heat, air conditioning and hot water on the ship would “routinely be shut off” without warning — with the outages lasting anywhere from a couple hours to two weeks. The sailors living on the warship also didn’t have access to TV or the internet, the complaint added.

Though Mitchell-Sandor’s family complained to the Navy about the conditions, nothing was done, the lawsuit maintains. Instead, the Navy instead “stigmatized” mental health care, looking down on sailors for trying to get help.

“Xavier grew increasingly depressed and suicidal due to the conditions onboard the GW, something he shared with shipmates and colleagues, as well as family and friends,” the lawsuit says.

After two other sailors in Mitchell-Sandor’s unit died by suicide in April 2022, he followed suit. On April 15, 2022, Mitchell-Sandor — “mentally and physically exhausted” — took his own life with his Navy-issued pistol.

“He took his own life in a state of complete despair due to the deplorable conditions inflicted upon him and other junior Naval personnel,” the lawsuit maintains.

The federal lawsuit — filed in Mitchell-Sandor’s home state of Connecticut in March but moved to U.S. District Court in Newport News this week — asserts that Mitchell-Sandor’s death was the result of the defendants’ “negligent acts” and their “failure to provide him with basic living necessities.”

The lawsuit names as defendants the United States of America and Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding’s parent company. Mitchell-Sandor’s father, Janos Sandor, is listed as the plaintiff and estate administrator.

Though the shipyard was initially expected to return the USS George Washington to the Navy in August 2021 — or five months before Mitchell-Sandor was assigned to the carrier — the project wasn’t actually finished until May 2023.

The Navy’s contract with the shipyard, the lawsuit said, included $75 million for living accommodations for sailors during the project. But the complaint asserts that the yard shifted much of that money to other projects, “in violation of its contractual obligation.”

“As a result of the motivation of (Huntington Ingalls) to place profits over safety, the living conditions at the shipyard deteriorated,” the lawsuit says.

The suit alleges that the Navy failed to act when Mitchell-Sandor was “struggling to adjust to life” on the ship. Among other things, it contends, the Navy did nothing when enlisted leadership “learned Xavier was sleeping in his vehicle.”

The Navy failed to “provide additional assistance” to sailors who had to work the overnight shift, and senior sailors failed “to notify anyone that Xavier was visibly struggling.”

Moreover, the suit contends the Navy failed to provide Mitchell-Sandor with counseling or tell him about mental health resources, failed to help him find housing off the ship, and failed “to follow up with Xavier after (his) family members notified them of safety concerns.”

In addition, the lawsuit says, the Navy failed to provide adequate training to sailors on suicide prevention.

On May 29, Huntington Ingalls lawyers asked that the case be dismissed. They contended that the Connecticut federal court had no jurisdiction over the matter and asserted that the company can’t be blamed for Mitchell-Sandor’s actions.

“The Complaint does not contain a single allegation that (Huntington Ingalls) knew or had reason to know that Mr. Mitchell-Sandor had mental health issues,” said the lawyers with the firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, adding that his suicide “was not reasonably foreseeable,”

Moreover, they said, Huntington Ingalls “did not owe any duty to Mr. Mitchell-Sandor to prevent his suicide or to protect him from his infliction of self-harm,” the motion says, noting that the plaintiffs did not specify which contractual provisions the company allegedly breached.

“The Decedent’s act of suicide, and that tragic act alone, produced his … death,” the motion says, asserting that Mitchell-Sandor “failed to care for his own mental health” before ending his life.

“Our thoughts remain with Seaman Sandor’s family and his shipmates, and our shipbuilders, as we expressed at his passing,” Todd Corillo, a spokesperson for Huntington Ingalls, added in a statement Thursday.

“We at (Huntington Ingalls Industries) work side-by-side with our U.S. Navy teammates, and we prioritize their safety — and that of our own employees and visitors to our shipyards — as we strive every day to advance the national security mission of our customers,” Corillo wrote. “We reserve further comment due to pending litigation.”

On July 22, lawyers for all parties agreed to have the case transferred to U.S. District Court in Newport News, across the street from the shipyard.

A Navy spokeswoman at the Pentagon on Friday referred a call about the lawsuit to the Justice Department, which could not immediately be reached.

Court documents show the Navy previously declined an out-of-court wrongful death claim from Mitchell-Sandor’s family. The Navy told them service members are precluded from suing for injuries and deaths arising from their service.

The Navy concluded in a December 2022 report that the three suicides in April of that year were unrelated.

That report said that Mitchell-Sandor was sleep deprived from juggling his 12-hour workdays with 8-hour commutes to visit family and friends in Connecticut and South Carolina. It also said he had undiagnosed depression.

The Navy’s report said Mitchell-Sandor was offered several opportunities to switch living spaces on the carrier, but he declined. Yet the report said senior enlisted sailors should have encouraged Mitchell-Sandor to relocate off the ship and should have tried to better understand why he was sleeping in his car.

“This was a time for intrusive leadership,” the report said.

In April 2023, the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command issued another report into the three George Washington suicides, finding that the Navy needs to better incentivize shipbuilders to get projects done on time so sailors aren’t living for long stretches in industrial shipyards.

That report added that the area of the city around Newport News Shipbuilding needs improvement.

“There remains inadequate parking, transportation, access to food and nutritional options, training space, physical fitness facilities, and housing options available to support the number of Sailors assigned to ships and submarines in the shipyard,” the report said.

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

Ronald Ivan Scott Jr., 35, of Florida, pleaded guilty in June to second-degree murder and related charges in the April 5, 2022 slaying of 23-year-old Joshua Emmanuel Owusu-Koramoah.

The cousins were roommates at Owusu-Koramoah’s Coliseum-area townhouse at the time of the killing.

Owusu-Koramoah, a former standout linebacker at Bethel High School who also played at William & Mary, was the older brother of Cleveland Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.

Drew Barker, a Bethel High teammate of Joshua’s, said the two were going to meet at 9 that morning at the Cracker Barrel on West Mercury Boulevard. But when Owusu-Koramoah had not shown by 9:25 a.m., Barker grew worried.

“It was automatically heartbreaking when he wasn’t answering phone calls, because he was the most punctual, respectful, humble and reliable person I know,” Barker told the Daily Press after the slaying.

Barker drove to Owusu-Koramoah’s home off Cunningham Drive just before 10 a.m., just as police and firefighters were arriving there. They found him near his front door. He had been bludgeoned  to death.

Police investigators found broken glass near Owusu-Koramoah’s body, an open wallet on his chest, and signs of a fight. Prosecutors believe the killing stemmed from a dispute over the use of his car.

After the fight, surveillance footage shows Scott buying gasoline at a nearby 7-Eleven on Executive Drive. Prosecutors say he doused the gasoline over Owusu-Koramoah’s body and spread it around the home before setting it ablaze.

Owusu-Koramoah’s dog, “J.J.,” died of smoke inhalation.

Scott was arrested in Florida three days later, driving Owusu-Koramoah’s Chevrolet Malibu and still wearing bloody clothes. He was later extradited to Hampton on charges of second-degree murder, arson, grand larceny and animal cruelty.

Attendees at the July 15 sentencing hearing included Owusu-Koramoah’s family, friends and a large contingent of students from Hampton Christian Academy, where he taught before he was killed.

Owusu-Koramoah was a man of immense kindness, several people at the hearing testified.

Hampton Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Dylan Arnold said the outpouring for Owusu-Koramoa also included 13 “victim impact statements” sent to the judge and a crowd so large that it necessitated a televised feed into an adjacent courtroom.

Owusu-Koramoah played football, basketball and soccer at Bethel, where he excelled academically and was enrolled in the Governor’s School for Science and Technology, according to a Daily Press story in 2015. He also sang in the choir at Liberty Baptist Church.

He played three seasons as a reserve linebacker at William & Mary, where he majored in chemistry, and began teaching at Hampton Christian in August 2021.

Owusu-Koramoah’s mother, Beverly Mabson-James, 63, said her son’s kind ways had no barriers.

“Our Creator only lent him to me and the rest of the world, (whose) life was touched by his presence,” Mabson-James wrote in a victim impact statement to Hampton Circuit Court Judge Michael Gaten.

“White people, Black people, rich and poor people, smart and unsmart people, he was touching … all walks of life,” she added.

Mabson-James testified about her son meeting an amputee at a bus stop, a woman late for her doctor’s visit. Owusu-Koramoah “took time out of his day to take this person to her medical appointment,” Arnold said.

Mabson-James wrote that she spoke with Owusu-Koramoah only a few hours before he was killed — as he waited on Scott to return to the town home with Owusu-Koramoah’s car and house keys.

Mabson-James was angry about it, she wrote, but Owusu-Koramoah was much more calm, telling her “the car was (a material thing), and we could always get another one,” she wrote in her letter to the judge.

Owusu-Koramoah’s brothers also testified at the sentencing hearing, including Jeremiah — the NFL player.

Among other things, Jeremiah talked of a time he and Joshua were traveling on a plane — but as they were leaving the aircraft, Jeremiah realized his brother was no longer walking next to him.

“Jeremiah turns around and (Joshua) is helping an elderly person down the aisle of the plane,” Arnold said.

The principal at Hampton Christian, Shirlyne Heard, termed Owusu-Koramoah a “true angel,” telling Gaten he was always positive and engaging with the students.

“His character was truly contagious,” Heard wrote. “Joshua’s ability to put people at ease and his respect for everyone he encountered were remarkable.”

Teresita Akers, the mother of a Hampton Christian student, talked about how her son immediately connected with “Mr. O” — that he “made learning fun” and “connected with each child based on their interests.”

“He was so excited to have a young teacher that he could relate to,” Akers wrote about her son. Mr. O’s death, she wrote, greatly hurt the teen.

State sentencing guidelines carried a range of 9 to 22 years. Arnold said that modest range stemmed from arson being listed as the case’s primary charge, since that has a stiffer maximum punishment under law than second-degree murder.

Arnold asked Gaten for 40 years of active prison time.

Scott’s attorney, Hampton Deputy Hampton Public Defender Hilary Merica, asked for a sentence within the state guidelines, contending Scott deserves credit for taking responsibility and pleading guilty without a plea agreement.

Merica could not be reached this week.

Gaten sentenced Scott to 40 years on the murder — and 55 years of suspended time combined in the arson, grand larceny and animal cruelty counts.

The judge told those in attendance that homicides are very heavy to deal with, given the emotions involved and the sense of loss to the families.

“But he said that this is the one case he can remember where he will go home with a sense of hope — because of who Joshua was and the impact Joshua had on the community,” Arnold said.

Most of Owusu-Koramoah immediate family was satisfied with the sentence, the prosecutor said. But the victim’s father — Andrews Owusu-Koramoah of Stafford County — told the Daily Press that his son was “vulnerable” and that his slaying deserved a far stiffer punishment.

“That’s not what we were looking for,” he said of the 40-year term. “We were praying for life without parole, because what (Scott) did was very evil … A family member was trying to support you, and you end up killing him.”

Scott is being held at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, awaiting a transfer to a state prison.

Reporter Marty O’Brien contributed to this report.

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

The charges stemmed from the men carrying concealed handguns into a Gloucester School Board meeting on July 11, 2023, at the T.C. Walker Education Center. That led to a lengthy parking lot dispute with sheriff’s deputies about handing over the firearms.

Under state law, felony convictions would have caused the men to lose their right to carry firearms going forward.

But the jury decided in the men’s favor after just over an hour of deliberations.

“I feel relieved and humbled,” one of the defendants, Derek Matthew Coblentz, 33, of Prince Edward County, said after the verdict.

Losing his gun rights and getting stripped of his right to vote — another right lost to felony convictions — “were the two top things I was worried about,” he said.

“The jury made the right decision,” added Trevor Jacob Herrin, 29, of James City County, who was seen as the leader of the group that night, following the verdict. “It was an open and shut case.”

As a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, a conviction against Herrin on the felony count could have impacted his career, his parents said.

Also acquitted of the charges Friday were Christopher Carlo Cordasco, 27, of James City County; and Antonio Ivan Hernandez, 28, of Augusta County.

The jury convicted Herrin of a separate misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed handgun that night, given that his permit to do so had expired. Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Shaw sentenced Herrin to 30 days in jail, but stayed that pending an appeal.

“We’re disappointed,” Gloucester Commonwealth’s Attorney John T. Dusewicz said of the acquittals on the felony charges. “But we respect the jury’s decision.”

But the prosecutor didn’t apologize for prosecuting the case.

“I’m always going to fight to keep guns out of schools and to keep schools safe,” Dusewicz said. “We took it to the mat and didn’t offer a plea deal. The only deal we offered was a fair trial.”

The charges stem from an incident in which the men carried concealed handguns into a Gloucester School Board meeting on July 11, 2023.

Gloucester Sheriff’s Deputy P.W. Lutz, working security that night, testified that he noticed Herrin was carrying a knife in a holster in the back of his shirt, and that the men split up and sat in different sections of the auditorium.

Lutz kept a close eye on Herrin, testifying that he saw “a bulge where the handle of a firearm would be.” At one point, he said, Herrin moved his arms and the deputy saw the gun under his shirt.

The men came to the meeting at the T.C. Walker Education Center a month after Herrin spoke at a prior board meeting in support of then-Gloucester School Board member Darren Post. After that meeting, Herrin said he found his tires were slashed, so he came to the July meeting to express his displeasure with the board.

“I would strongly recommend caution and reflection before engaging in anything like that, especially with someone you don’t know, with capabilities you don’t know,” Herrin told board members.

The five men — the four armed men and one unarmed one — left the meeting about 6:45 p.m. Lutz said he followed them into the parking lot and asked them to wait before he went to speak with others for about 30 to 45 minutes to determine his next step.

When he returned, he told the men that the T.C. Walker Education Center was a school building but that “we’re operating on the assumption that you didn’t know,” according to body camera footage shown at the trial.

Lutz implied that the men weren’t being arrested, but that he would put their names and gun serial numbers into an incident report. Herrin at first objected, saying they could email the deputy the serial numbers later.

“We’re not disarming,” Herrin said, according to the footage. “We’re at an impasse now.”

“We have families to go home to also,” one of the men told the deputies.

Lutz then offered a compromise: The men could continue to hold their firearms while he wrote down each gun’s serial number. The men agreed to that, and also provided their driver’s licenses as identification.

But Gloucester Sheriff Darrell Warren learned of the situation while the men were still in the parking lot, telling his deputies that the men’s guns needed to be confiscated as evidence.

During this week’s trial, Dusewicz sought to introduce as evidence an ensuing 20-minute phone call between Warren and Herrin, captured on one deputy’s body camera. But Judge Shaw barred that conversation from being played for jurors this week, saying the timing of when they turned over the guns wasn’t relevant to whether they had them on school grounds.

In an interview with the Daily Press last year, Warren said he told Herrin at the time that he believed the group had violated the state law banning guns in schools. He told Herrin he would talk to prosecutors the next day, but that in the meantime they needed to hand over their guns.

“I said if I’m wrong, I’m going to apologize and personally deliver your guns back,” Warren said in the interview.

After lots of back and forth, Warren said, the men finally ended up relinquishing their weapons and emptying their pockets. Aside from the weapons, court documents said, the men had medical trauma kits, tourniquets, handcuffs and extra ammunition.

The men were arrested several days later.

There was no dispute at this week’s trial that the men carried concealed handguns into the board meeting that evening.

The trial instead revolved in large part on the language of the state’s law banning guns in schools.

In this case, the dispute centered on whether a pre-school program called ‘Head Start’ located in the building — but closed for the summer — barred the men from carrying guns into the school board meeting.

State law says guns are barred from any preschool, or elementary, middle or high school in the state, including the building and grounds. Guns are also banned from “the property of any child day center,” the state statute says.

But the law also says that the provisions on “child day centers” — as well as private or religious preschools — “shall apply only during the operating hours” of that facility.

Dusewicz introduced trial evidence to show that the Head Start program is indeed a “school.”

The Head Start program follows the Gloucester Public School calendar year, is advertised on the school division’s website, and has classrooms, teachers, and a state-mandated curriculum on “numbers, letters, shapes, colors, art and music.”

The fact that Head Start is a public pre-school — and not merely a child day center — means the gun ban applies, Dusewicz contended. How many other day care centers, he asked, are closed for the summer?

“The evidence is uncontested that Gloucester Head Start is a public school program,” Dusewicz told the jury. “You can’t have guns there at any time. Guns in pre-school is not a great combination.”

But the attorneys for the four men asserted that the state law’s exception for “child day centers” is clear — that firearms aren’t banned when a Head Start or other child care centers aren’t in operation.

The defense lawyers repeatedly flashed a copy of the Gloucester Head Start’s “child day center” license from the Virginia Department of Education.

“This isn’t from Jeff’s rent-a-license,” said Jeffrey Everhart, an attorney for Cordasco, as he held the Education Department license up for jurors to see. “The commonwealth can’t rise above this evidence … It’s a dagger in the heart of the commonwealth’s case.”

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

According to trial testimony Thursday, a Gloucester sheriff’s deputy saw five men walking into the meeting at the T.C. Walker Education Center on July 11, 2023.

Gloucester Sheriff’s Deputy P.W. Lutz, who was working security at the meeting, first noticed that one of the men, later identified as James City County resident Trevor J. Herrin, was carrying a knife in a holster in the back of his shirt.

The men split up and sat in different sections of the room, Lutz said.

Lutz kept a close eye on Herrin, seeing “a bulge where the handle of a firearm would be.” At one point, he said, Herrin moved his arms and the deputy was able to see the gun for “a couple of seconds.”

According to court documents, Herrin was upset about what happened at a School Board meeting a month earlier, when he came to speak on behalf of his friend, then-School Board member Darren Post.

Herrin said that when he got back to his car after the June 2023 meeting, he saw that his tire was flat. Later, he said, he realized it has been slashed with a knife.

Herrin took the podium again at the July 2023 meeting, saying he wanted an apology for the slashed tires.

“I would strongly recommend caution and reflection before engaging in anything like that, especially with someone you don’t know, with capabilities you don’t know,” he said at the time. (The Sheriff’s Office appears to dispute the tire slashing, saying there’s no video evidence Herrin’s tires being slashed at the June meeting).

4 men charged with bringing firearms to Gloucester County School Board meeting

The five men left the meeting about 6:45 p.m. after the July 2023 School Board meeting, Lutz testified.

He said he followed them into the parking lot. He asked them to remain where they were to allow him to talk with others, then came back to them about 30 minutes later.

“We’re operating on the assumption that you didn’t know,” Lutz told the men, according to body camera footage shown at Thursday’s trial.

Lutz implied that they weren’t being arrested, but that he would put their names and gun serial numbers into an incident report. Herrin acknowledged he was carrying a weapon, and Lutz asked the others if they were too, the footage shows.

“Probably,” one man responded.

It turned out that four of the five men in the group were armed. Herrin at first objected to the men providing sheriff’s deputies with their weapons’ serial numbers, saying they could email the the deputy the serial numbers later.

“We’re not disarming,” Herrin said, according to the footage. “We’re at an impasse now.”

But Lutz then offered a compromise: The men could continue to hold their firearms — with their fingers away from the handle and the trigger — while Lutz wrote down each gun’s serial number on his notebook.

“We have families to go home to, also,” one of the men told the deputies, in a comment that appeared to have a calming impact.

But when Gloucester Sheriff Darrell Warren learned of the situation while the men were still in the parking lot, he told his deputies the men needed to be charged with a crime.

According to body camera footage of a conversation between Lutz and Sheriff’s Lt. Nick Leaver at the scene, Warren also wanted them to hand over their guns.

“That’s per the sheriff,” Leaver told Lutz on the recording.

During the trial, Gloucester Commonwealth’s Attorney John Dusewicz sought to introduce as evidence the 20-minute phone call between Sheriff Warren and Herrin.

Warren told the Daily Press last year that a deputy put the sheriff on speaker phone with Herrin as the deputy’s body camera footage rolled.

Warren said he told Herrin he believed the group had violated the state law banning guns in schools. He told Herrin he would talk to prosecutors the next day, but that in the meantime they needed to hand over their guns.

“I said if I’m wrong, I’m going to apologize and personally deliver your guns back,” Warren told the Daily Press.

After lots of back and forth, Warren said, the men finally ended up relinquishing their weapons and emptying their pockets. Aside from the weapons, court documents said, the men had medical trauma kits, tourniquets, handcuffs and extra ammunition.

But on Thursday, the men’s lawyers objected to that phone call being played for jurors. Given that the men admitted to having the guns, the lawyers said, the only reason to play the footage was to “inflame the jury” against the men.

Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Shaw agreed, barring that footage from the trial. The judge said the timing of the men turning over their guns — whether they did it that day or a week later — was not relevant to whether they illegally possessed a handgun on school grounds.

The four men are charged with carrying firearms on school grounds, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Aside from the 29-year-old Herrin, the men include Derek Coblentz, 33, of Prince Edward County; Christopher Cardasco, 27, of James City County; and Antonio Hernandez, 28, of Augusta County.

The men’s lawyers maintain that the charges should be tossed. They assert that just because a building is owned by a school division — as is the T.C. Walker building — doesn’t make it a “school” under the language of the state’s gun law.

While guns are barred from schools and school functions statewide, school board meeting spaces and administration offices don’t typically fall under the general rule.

In this case, however, the T.C. Walker Education Center separately houses a Head Start program, which is a public preschool that Warren said puts it under the state’s gun ban.

The Head Start center was not open at the time of the School Board meeting in question. But Warren maintains that the entire “building and grounds” falls under that gun prohibition 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Armed men protested outside an empty Gloucester school building. Charges could still be coming.

On a Saturday night about five weeks after the July 2023 arrests, eight armed men — with camouflage and long guns — protested outside the T.C. Walker building in the name of the four men arrested.

At the time, Warren said he made the decision not to engage the armed protestors, in part because no one was in the building at the time.

The trial will resume Friday morning with jury constructions and closing arguments.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Newport News, Michael Trenton Rusk asserts that the James City County Police Department and the county discriminated against him on the basis of sex by allowing the abuses to continue.

Rusk, 26, wants $5.5 million in compensatory damages, as well as $300,000 in punitive damages, plus attorney fees.

The federal lawsuit, filed in June by Williamsburg attorney William Akers, is separate from the criminal case now underway against Rusk.

Rusk is charged with malicious wounding and a gun count after shooting his superior officer, Sgt. Christopher L. Gibson, outside a Scotland Street bar in January 2023. A trial is now scheduled for September in Williamsburg Circuit Court.

Both officers were placed on administrative leave following the shooting. But according to documents filed with the lawsuit, James City County Administrator Scott Stevens fired Rusk in May.

Aside from citing the two pending charges, Stevens’ termination letter said Rusk “refused to answer questions” during an internal investigation into the shooting, and that he “exchanged sexual and racially derogatory images using county-owned devices.”

Gibson, 40, retired May 31, James City County human resources director Patrick Teague said Tuesday. Teague said the retirement was Gibson’s own choice.

Rusk’s lawsuit asserts that James City County and its police department violated his right to be free from workplace discrimination and sexual harassment from Gibson, who was in a managerial role.

“Mr. Rusk has been subject to illegal and intolerable conditions, including statements and other inappropriate and unwanted behaviors from (Gibson) that created an offensive and hostile work environment,” the complaint asserts. “Such behavior and actions were ignored by the Defendants, because Mr. Rusk is a male.”

Instead of stopping the abuse, the complaint contends, the county jailed and fired Rusk. “The Defendants’ conduct has completely ruined Mr. Rusk’s life,” the lawsuit asserts.

James City County Attorney Adam Kinsman and Police Chief Mark Jamison — who became chief several months after the 2023 shooting — did not return calls Tuesday.

“We’re unable to comment on pending litigation,” said Tayleb Brooks, a spokesman for the police department. “We take the allegations very seriously. We are very committed to keeping a safe and hospitable workplace for all of our employees.”

Since Jamison took over as chief, Brooks said, “we have implemented policies to ensure that a lot of changes have been made and that we will move forward in a positive direction.”

Rusk began with the county police department in 2021. Gibson’s opinion of him and his work were vital to Rusk’s chances for advancement, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit contends that from December 2021 to January 2023, Gibson increasingly made unwelcome sexual advances, to include hand holding, touching, sexual comments and “stalking.”

In September 2022, Rusk suggested to Gibson that they use the Life360 tracking system to keep track of each other, with the lawsuit saying he made that suggestion as a “safety tool.”

But Rusk began feeling stalked when Gibson would show up unannounced at locations both on and off duty. That caused Rusk to remove Gibson as a contact on the app, with Gibson getting upset at the change, the suit says.

Gibson would also track Rusk’s whereabouts by way of a “mobile data computer” installed in the police cars, the lawsuit asserts.

“Mr. Rusk was subject to Gibson’s pervasive and severe attempts to groom an inappropriate romantic relationship and entice a sexual response,” the lawsuit says, attaching a series of hundreds of text messages between the officers.

While Gibson appears to have initiated most of the text exchanges submitted to the court, Rusk did not voice objection to the nature of the discussions.

They exchanged playful banter on songs and lyrics, intermixed with conversation about work, and lots of flirtatious converstation.

“Just a reminder that you’re really attractive,” Gibson wrote on Dec. 7, 2022, with a smiley face emoji. Rusk replies with the “grinning with sweat” emoji, and a blue heart.

When Rusk didn’t show up for a bowling group one day, another court document said, Gibson told him that the only reason he bowls with the group was to see Rusk, according to a letter in the court file from Rusk’s therapist.

In another text exchange, Gibson later offers to bring Rusk’s nicotine dispenser to him, and to “holler … if you want to play.”

Later Gibson refers to himself numerous times as “daddy,” asking, “Coming to see daddy?” and says he’s “having flashbacks to being alone in the church parking lot again.”

Gibson at one point complains about “being ghosted,” saying: “How is it that you’ve been on the way for 30 minutes now?”

“Mikey coming to daddy?? Mikey not,” Gibson said in another text exchange, adding a sad face emoji.

“Awhhhhhh honey, big sad face too,” Rusk responds with a broken heart emoji, explaining how dinner with others took longer than expected.

“Well, there’s always next time,” Gibson responds with a wink.

“Good morning sweetie!” Gibson wrote to Rusk in October 2022. “Just wanted to make sure you have something good on your phone when you woke up,” adding a kiss face and a blue heart emoji.

“Awh, thanks hunny!” Rusk replies, with a kiss face and a heart emoji.

“Come to daddy,” Gibson responds.

Later, when Rusk talks about missing a particular woman’s texts, Gibson gives him some advice: “Leave the few good memories where they belong. In the past. Look ahead to the future … In the meantime, I’ll fill in the blanks.”

When they briefly discuss erectile dysfunction, Gibson tells Rusk he would be “en route to fix … the issue,” saying he wants to ensure that Rusk is “fit for duty,” adding a wink face.

In January 2023, Gibson questions Rusk about being removed from the Life360 app. Though Rusk tells him he’s still on the work version of the app, Gibson appears hurt.

“Why can’t you leave me on personal,” Gibson asks, according to the texts. “I’m mildly offended … I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The lawsuit contends that Rusk’s seemingly willing participation in the texts “are a product of a combination of factors,” including Gibson’s supervisory role, “the control and influence he had over Mr. Rusk’s future within the Police Department,” and the culture of the department.

“Mr. Rusk fell prey to Gibson’s grooming tactics and felt the only option was to appease Gibson,” the lawsuit says. Akers attached a three-page letter from a licensed therapist, Kim Pinto of Healing Project LLC, and outside investigation reports into the department’s culture.

It all culminated on Jan. 24, 2023.

“After taking his subordinate to multiple breweries and bars, Gibson made unwanted advances and began to sexually assault and batter Mr. Rusk relentlessly,” the lawsuit contends. That included blocking him from calling for help and stopping him from fleeing.

That “left Mr. Rusk with no other viable option but to reasonably defend himself, given the circumstances as he perceived them,” the lawsuit asserts.

The lawsuit also cites Rusk’s visit to Gibson’s boss, Lt. G.E. White, in early January 2023 to complain about Gibson.

In a memo that White wrote in April 2023 — three months after the shooting — White recalled that Rusk asked to speak privately in White’s office, telling him “of an uncomfortable situation that was occurring between him and Sgt. Gibson.”

White said Rusk told him that Gibson was “overly friendly and always being near where Rusk was at work,” often backing him up on calls and stops. Rusk also told White about the Life360 issue, saying “he believed that it wasn’t a coincidence” that Gibson would suddenly show up at his off-duty locations.

But White’s memo said Rusk did not want White to speak with Gibson about it, saying Rusk told him he’d talk with Gibson himself. White added that Rusk approached him about a week later and said he spoke with Gibson and that all was well.

The lawsuit denies that Rusk told White that he would handle the situation himself, and denies that Rusk said a week later that all was well. The lawsuit asserts that White “had a duty to report and investigate” Rusk’s complaints under county policy, but “recklessly disregarded” that duty.

When reached on Tuesday, Gibson referred a call to his attorney, Nick Simopoulos of Richmond, who couldn’t immediately be reached.

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

The group of six men and a woman stole 691 TVs — valued at more than $680,000 — from 321 Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs from Virginia to Florida, the Sheriff’s Office said.

About a quarter of the thefts took place in Virginia: The conspirators stole 187 TVs — valued at about $183,000 — from 34 locations statewide.

“They were doing this on a daily basis,” York-Poquoson Sheriff Ron Montgomery said at a news conference. “It was a huge operation for them … This was their full-time job.”

WATCH: YouTube video footage of Friday’s press conference at the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office got a call in April from Jeffrey Meyer, a Richmond-based Walmart investigator who probes theft in the retail giant’s Mid-Atlantic region.

That call came more than a year after Meyer in May 2023 first noticed an unusual number of TVs were being returned on a particular member’s Sam’s Club account, York Sheriff’s Deputy Layne Forrest said.

“He tracked these subjects for several months,” Forrest said. “He then actually started surveillance on the individuals. He got to understand exactly how the crime was committed.”

Forrest said at least two men at a time would walk into Walmarts or Sam’s Clubs and buy new TVs — typically between 70 and 85 inches in size and priced between $900 and $1,200.

They would then take them to leased box trucks parked nearby.

“They needed vehicles this size just for the sheer size of the televisions they were ultimately stealing,” Forrest explained.

Inside the trucks, the conspirators would carefully remove the TVs from the boxes. They’d peel off the serial number stickers from the back, attaching them instead to the broken TVs that they would put into the boxes in place of the new screens.

Then — often within a couple hours of the original purchases — they would return the boxes to the stores with the broken TVs inside, making it appear to the Walmart store clerks that the cardboard boxes had never been opened.

“There was not a lot questioning,” Forrest said. “It was basically placed right back on the shelf, where an unsuspecting consumer would come and purchase the device and get it home, install it and find that it was completely broken.”

The schemers, he said, would then hawk the new TVs on Facebook Marketplace and other websites for between $650 and $750 apiece.

Many of the 34 targeted stores in Virginia were hit more than once.

The conspirators stole TVs at least five times from the Walmart on Route 17 in York County’s Tabb section, and twice from a Walmart in the Williamsburg area, Forrest said.

The organized ring also stole many TVs from about 40 Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs across North Carolina. They took from many stores in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama, and even from single stores in Ohio, Kentucky and Louisiana.

Over the past 12 days, the Sheriff’s Office has arrested and charged four Newport News residents in the case: James J. Montgomery, 34; Timothy J. Ricks, 36; Lisa L. Byrd, 35, and Aaron A. Crane, 25.

They face four felony counts — organized retail theft, money laundering, conspiracy to commit a felony, and larceny with the intent to distribute — in York County General District Court.

Byrd and Montgomery were released on bond, while Ricks is being held at the Newport News City Jail and Crane at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, records show.

Three other men — still at large as of Friday afternoon — face the same four charges: Shawn E. Washington, 44, of Newport News; Craig L. Clary, 34, of Hampton, and Camrin Council, 25, also of Hampton.

“The investigation continues right now to bring all seven to trial in York County,” Montgomery said.

Money laundering, felony conspiracy and larceny together carry a combined potential punishment under state law of up to 70 years behind bars.

Organized retail theft — a new charge added to Virginia’s books only last July — carries up to another 20 years. That charge is designed to go after people who act together to steal more than $5,000 worth of merchandise from retailers within a 90-day period.

Montgomery said he will be talking with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s investigations division next week about the possibility of taking the case federally. Aside from Walmart and Sam’s Club, he said, it appears that other retailers were targeted, too.

“This is a prime example of law enforcement agencies and retailers working together to bring down organized retail groups,” Kyle Wood, the director of the organized retail crime unit of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, said at Friday’s news conference.

Retail theft in Virginia averages more than $1 billion annually, Montgomery said, citing AG’s office numbers. Many such losses, he said, are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Peter Dujardin. 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

Kimberly C. Sawyer has been appointed to serve as director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, the fifth head in the lab’s 40-year history, JLab said in a news release this week.

Sawyer, 67, will succeed Stuart Henderson, 60, who is stepping down after seven years, the release said.

She will assume her role Aug. 2.

Jefferson Lab — on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News’ Oyster Point section — employs more than 900 people, including many nuclear physicists, engineers and computer programmers.

Among their tasks: probing the nucleus of the atom.

The lab’s foremost tool is a particle accelerator that sends continuous beams of electrons down an oval-shaped tunnel nearly a mile long and runs 25 feet below the ground.

Sawyer takes the helm as the facility is set to expand, taking on a more significant role that will deliver “even greater impact to the scientific community, the Hampton Roads region and the nation,” the release said.

In October, for example, the Department of Energy announced that Jefferson Lab would be the home to a $300 million to $500 million “high performance data facility hub” to store and analyze research data.

Jefferson Lab and Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Long Island, New York, competed for more than five years to become the site of a new $1 billion national electron-ion collider.

While Jefferson Lab lost out to Brookhaven in 2020 for the new collider’s location, the Newport News lab is still deemed a major partner in the Long Island-based project.

Moreover, Jefferson Lab’s accelerator got a $338 million upgrade in 2018 that tripled its operating energy.

The release calls Sawyer “a successful change agent” who champions innovation while also spearheading efficiencies and a “strong culture of safety” in organizations she’s led.

“Kim delivers results, and we are confident her leadership and technical acumen will guide the lab as it begins its evolution to a multi-program laboratory,” said Sean J. Hearne, president and CEO of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, which oversees Jefferson Lab.

Jefferson Lab is funded by the federal government and managed by Jefferson Science Associates LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Southeastern Universities Research Association.

Sawyer has served as deputy laboratory director and chief operating officer for two other Department of Energy laboratories — Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago, and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, according to the release. She also worked for years at defense giant Lockheed Martin.

Sawyer owns a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Robert Morris University, outside her hometown of Pittsburgh, and a master’s in mathematics and computing from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

The next day, state officials asked a Hampton Roads law firm to help out.

Chris Abel and David Sump — maritime attorneys with the Norfolk law firm Willcox & Savage — had been representing Maryland for more than a year in the case of a barge that crashed into a state-owned bridge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

The Dali’s crash was far more spectacular in scale — with exponentially more money at stake. But “at a very basic level,” Abel said, both accidents involved vessels crashing into state bridges, with the same 19th century maritime law at issue.

The Norfolk law partners — former Coast Guard officers who met at the Coast Guard Academy in 1975 — quickly agreed to take on the Maryland work.

“It’s always exciting where you read about something in the paper and then the phone rings,” Abel said. “Everyone in America, or probably in the world, knew that this tragedy happened when they woke up the morning of March 26. The fact that within a day or so we were getting a call and an opportunity to have a role, that was kind of exciting.”

Starting in early April and running through most of May, Abel, 66, of York County, and Sump, 67, of Chesapeake — together with younger Willcox & Savage lawyer Michael Collett — spent “hundreds” of hours representing Maryland in the Key Bridge case.

“Our job in the early going was to represent the state’s interest,” Abel said. “To advise the state of its legal rights and options.”

According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, a crewman on the Dali accidentally tripped an electrical circuit breaker on the ship on March 26 — causing the 984-foot container ship to lose power and crash into the Key Bridge’s support structure.

Only five days after the bridge’s collapse, the Dali’s owner and operator — Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and the Synergy Marine Group — filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to limit their legal exposure.

They did so under the Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability Act, an 1851 law that caps a ship owner’s liability from a disaster to the total value of the ship and its cargo after the accident.

If a ship is destroyed, for example, the ship owner would have no liability at all. In its court filing in the Key Bridge case, Grace and Synergy pegged the value of the ship at $90 million before the collision and $43 million afterward.

“If you’re Grace Ocean and if you’re Synergy, you’re certainly hoping that you get to make that stick, because their exposure would never be greater than that $43 million,” Abel said. “And obviously you’ve got a bunch of folks fighting for it.”

But Maryland and other claimants are expected to challenge Grace Ocean’s and Synergy’s right to limit its liability under the 1851 law. One such challenge, for example, could be that the ship owner was negligent in its actions — such as not adequately training its crew — so doesn’t deserve such protections.

“If there’s some blame that goes back to the owner, that should be enough to break through the limitation,” Abel said.

All reimbursement claims must be filed with the Baltimore federal court by Sept. 24.

There’s expected to be claims from family members of the six bridge construction workers killed when they fell into the Patapsco River in the crash, and from two other workers who were injured.

Moreover, Abel said there will be a claim from the construction company for equipment lost, a claim from the federal government for clearing the shipping channel, and a claim from the city of Baltimore that it had “a proprietary interest” in the bridge, among several others.

Maryland will surely have a large claim — that “Hey, that was our bridge that you knocked down” and that the crossing’s collapse has led to millions of dollars in lost toll revenues, Abel said. The state will clearly need all the money it can get, given that the cost to replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge could run into the billions of dollars.

But under existing law, Abel said, Maryland can get reimbursed only for the value of the 47-year-old bridge at the time of the accident — not the cost of building a new one with all the bells and whistles.

“It’s gonna cost a lot of money,” Abel said. “But the way the law is, you don’t get a new bridge for an old one … The fight is going to be over the fair value of the bridge that was destroyed.”

During the Norfolk attorneys’ representation of the state of Maryland between April through about May 17, the lawyers had conversations and meetings with attorneys for the ship and others.

There were phone calls with the insurance company for the bridge. There was a meeting between Abel, a Justice Department lawyer and the insurance company attorney on the Dali itself.

And when pieces of the bridge floated to shore, Abel and Sump needed to ensure that everyone had an equal chance “to see if there was anything to be gained from the debris that was brought up,” Abel said. “We arranged for the inspection protocols to ensure that evidence is preserved.”

The Norfolk law firm did not get to keep the legal representation long term.

Under state law, Maryland officials needed to go through a formal bidding process to hire lawyers to deal with the Key Bridge accident’s aftermath.

Dozens of proposals were submitted involving more than 60 law firms.

Though Willcox & Savage and its Maryland law firm partner submitted a bid — and were among the finalists — state officials instead selected a consortium of five firms for the work.

But in announcing the selection of the consortium, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown thanked the Norfolk law firm for its efforts on about eight weeks of work.

“I offer thanks to Willcox & Savage … for assisting on an interim basis and providing critical advice as we proceeded with our competitive selection process,” Brown wrote. “Because of its immediate availability and diligence, we were able to jumpstart our efforts to protect the state’s interests from ‘Day 1.'”

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

Charles, 79, had a knack for computers and used to fly a Cessna out of Newport News-Williamsburg Airport. Cynthia, 77, was a retired health-care accountant and more recently a volunteer at a food bank.

“They were always together,” said Jesse Jones Jr., who lived two doors down in the couple’s Hampton neighborhood. “Most of the time when they left the house, they were together.”

On the morning of May 26th, the Seyfferts were together in Room 4115, on the fourth floor of Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News. Just before 8:20 a.m., according to court records, Cynthia pulled out a 9mm handgun and fired four rounds.

Two shots missed, striking the wall. But two shots found their mark: Charles Marion Seyffert — a patient at the hospital — was found shot to death in his bed. Cynthia Lovett Seyffert, who was visiting her husband, was found shot to death in a nearby chair.

Police found the Ruger handgun and a suicide note near Cynthia, and four cartridge casings in the room. The State Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled Charles’ death a homicide and Cynthia’s a suicide.

What’s not clear is why Cynthia decided to end their lives.

The contents of Cynthia’s suicide note have not been disclosed. Newport News Police have so far declined to shed any light on her motive. And the couple’s family members either couldn’t be reached or declined to speak about what happened.

Newport News to audit city security in response to Riverside hospital shooting

___

‘I’m really fond of them’

The Seyfferts got married at a United Methodist church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in January 1967, according to their wedding announcement in the Daily Press at the time.

Cynthia May Lovett, who grew up in Arlington, was then a junior at Radford College. Charles Marion Seyffert, who grew up in Hampton’s Wythe section, was a senior at Virginia Tech.

The couple moved to Hardee Court — a cul de sac off Big Bethel Road in Hampton — in 1969 and lived there for more than 55 years, according to city real estate records.

Longtime neighbors expressed shock at the Seyfferts’ sudden deaths, saying the couple they knew as “Chuck and Cindy” largely kept to themselves but were consistently cordial.

The Seyfferts lived next to a row of three families — all sharing the Jones surname — who lived on the block for decades.

“They were nice — they were nice people,” said Jesse Jones Jr., 54, who’s lived on the block for 24 years. “Whenever they’re leaving or going or coming, and if we’re out, we waved at one another and all of that.”

When Jones’ children were growing up and needed support for their school or sports fundraising efforts, they could always count on the Seyfferts to buy some of the candy or popcorn.

About a year ago, Jones said, someone dropped off a large box of vegetables — tomatoes, corn, squash and cucumbers — on his porch. He reviewed his Ring camera footage and saw that the Seyfferts had brought it over.

Another neighbor, Willie Jones, 69, has lived on the street for 35 years and began cutting grass for the Seyfferts two years ago.

“I’m really fond of them, they’re nice folks,” Jones said. “This just shocked and surprised everybody, and we’re just trying to grapple with it … They’ve always been kind to us, just like neighbors do. I have not had a minute’s issue with them, and that’s the truth.”

The Seyfferts lived on Hardee Court longer than any other family there, said Charles Jones, 93, the Seyfferts’ next door neighbor for more than four decades.

“They were here when I came in,” Jones said. “I’ve been knowing them now for quite some time. Everybody else has passed away or moved out. They were very nice people, very nice people. Didn’t bother nobody. They’re good people.”

___

‘Dad’s gone — and mom is too’

Several neighbors said Charles Seyffert had a stroke a few years ago. He began using a cane to get around, but could speak as he always did and still worked on his yard and vehicles.

“He was doing everything that would be done,” Charles Jones said. “He’d get out and do what he could. He was a fine fellow.”

But one night a few months ago, Jones said, an ambulance showed up around midnight and took Charles Seyffert to the hospital. Cynthia told Jones a few days later that he had suffered another stroke.

Cynthia began spending overnights with her husband at Riverside.

“There wouldn’t be a day that would pass that she wouldn’t go over,” Jones said. Later, he said, the couple’s son moved in from out of town to share in that task.

By late May, Charles Seyffert was being treated by Select Specialty Hospital, a 25-bed rehabilitation center that leases part of Riverside’s Hospital’s fourth floor. Select’s Specialty’s website says it “helps critically ill patients to breathe, speak, eat, walk and think as independently as possible.”

A few days after the May 26th shooting, the couple’s son walked next door to Jones’ house to deliver the devastating news.

“Dad’s gone — and mom is too,” he told Jones.

But Jones said it took another week or so for him and other neighbors to piece together that the Seyfferts were the couple killed in the Riverside murder-suicide case that made local headlines.

“It was so shocking to me,” Jones said. “I haven’t really gotten over it yet. I’ll miss them.”

The Seyfferts’ 56-year-old son declined to comment for this story when he answered the door at his parents’ home on June 19. Other extended family couldn’t be reached.

___

Charles flew a Cessna

Born in 1944, Charles Marion Seyffert was the third child of the late Marion and Mary Jane Seyffert, of Hampton. One of his sisters, Kay Seyffert Bales, died in 2007, while another, of Fairfax County, did not return calls.

The Nexis database lists Charles Seyffert’s past employers as the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and the J.J. Henry Co., a New York-based Naval architectural firm. He founded a home-based consulting business, Computer Management Services, in 1992, state records show.

Seyffert had a private’s pilot’s license with the Federal Aviation Administration, with the most recent upgrade to his license in 2010, according to the FAA’s website.

He parked his plane — a Cessna 172N four-seater — at the Newport News-Williamsburg Airport for years. The plane’s last known flight was in November 2022, according to flightaware.com, a flight tracking website.

“Chuck was just very, very quiet and stayed pretty much to himself,” said John Bombaro, the president of Rick Aviation, a company that services small aircraft at the airport. “It’s been maybe three or four years since I’ve seen him.”

Bombaro said Charles Seyffert told him a few years back that he had some medical issues, but “that he was working on it” and expected to recover.

___

Cynthia was a Sentara accountant

Born in 1946 into a military colonel’s family, Cynthia Seyffert worked for more than 30 years at Sentara Healthcare’s Norfolk headquarters as a certified public accountant. She served for many years on the board of the Virginia chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Cynthia and her husband would often come to board events together, said Margaret Thompson, a fellow board member who worked as an certified public accountant at Chesapeake General Hospital and an auditor with the Bon Secours Health System.

“They were like a little hippie couple,” Thompson said, saying the couple’s small stature and Cynthia’s long gray hair fit that image. “He’d come to our meetings and he would come to our conventions. He would travel with her.”

Cynthia often ran the registration tables at the board’s statewide meetings — and was strict about making sure the rules were followed, board members said.

Thompson said Cynthia always wanted things done a certain way. “Nobody questioned her integrity or her brains — she was a smart lady,” she said. “But she was a character.”

Cynthia retired from Sentara in 2013, listing her job as “Bookworm” on her LinkedIn page. She listed her place of business as “My Couch.”

She was reading mysteries, science fiction and romance books, Cynthia wrote on LinkedIn. She was also cooking a lot and had become “very fond of preserves and pickles.” She said she enjoyed flying in her husband’s plane and babysitting her granddaughters “with the assistance of Busch Gardens and our local pool.”

“I can highly recommend this company!!” Cynthia quipped about her new retiree life. “It is well worth setting this as a life goal. Just don’t neglect your family while you are trying to reach it!!!!!”

___

‘An excellent volunteer’

For the past four years, Cynthia worked as a volunteer at the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank, a Hampton organization that collects and distributes food for the needy.

Donna Tighe, the Food Bank’s director of development, said Cynthia began volunteering there in April 2020, just after the pandemic struck. She brought in home-made face-masks for staff and volunteers, then began helping out herself.

“She was an excellent volunteer and did so many different things for us,” Tighe said. “She was so flexible and just wanted to be there to help. She just showed up for whatever we needed, and we put her to work.”

Cynthia logged 335 volunteer hours with the Food Bank since early 2020, including sorting and packing canned goods, distributing food and handling data entry at fundraising events.

But in March, Cynthia told the Food Bank that she needed to take a break for personal reasons, but said she’d be back.

“We were just so heartbroken when we heard the sad news,” Tighe said of the May 26 shooting. “We just really miss her.”

“When I found out the news of what happened, it was a shock to me, honestly,” said Jesse Jones III, 32, who grew up two doors down from the Seyfferts. “In today’s world, you just never know.”

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com

The Biden campaign sent out an announcement Tuesday that Jill Biden was to “to greet Virginia volunteers and supporters ahead of the first presidential debate.”

The time and location of the Virginia Beach event was not immediately released. The president and former president face off at 9 p.m. Thursday in Atlanta in the first of two scheduled debates between the men.

Trump is expected to host a campaign rally on Friday in Chesapeake, the day after the debate. The Trump event will begin at 3 p.m. at the Historic Greenbrier Farms, with Gov. Glenn Youngkin expected to attend.

A Republican candidate hasn’t won a presidential race in the Old Dominion since President George W. Bush bested Sen. John Kerry in 2004.

GOP presidential candidates have lost four straight times in Virginia after that, including Biden’s 54% to 44% victory over Trump here four years ago.

But polls show a much tighter race in the commonwealth this time around, with Trump increasingly boasting at rallies that Virginia and several other blue states are now “in play.”

A Roanoke College poll released in May showed Biden and Trump tied in a head-to-head matchup in Virginia, with Biden leading by two points when other candidates were included.

A group of 18 recent polls compiled by The Hill, a Washington publication, also show a virtual dead heat in Virginia.

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com